In lamp heating and curing applications, one or more magnetrons are used to provide microwave radiation to a lamp source, such as an electrodeless ultraviolet (UV) lamp used in the curing of adhesives, sealants or coatings in industrial applications. When the plasma of the lamp is sufficiently excited by the microwave radiation from each magnetron, the lamp illuminates to provide the necessary light wavelength and intensity for the particular heating or curing process.
Microwave-excited lamp systems typically have a separate power supply that provides high voltage to each magnetron and a lesser voltage to a blower and each magnetron filament. The power supply may further be coupled electrically with sensors positioned within the system and the system lamp head. As a result, multiple cables extend from the power supply to the lamp head. For example, a conventional dual-magnetron lamp system includes a high voltage cable extending from the power supply to the magnetrons and a low voltage cable extending from the power supply to the magnetron filaments and an internal blower used to cool the lamp head. In conventional single-magnetron systems with an internal blower, the lamp system includes a single high voltage cable energizing the magnetron and a single low voltage cable for energizing the blower and magnetron filament. Conventional microwave-excited lamp systems may also include a cable for transmitting signals between the power supply and system sensors.
Regardless of the specific cabling configuration, conventional microwave-excited lamp systems require multiple cables that extend from the power supply to the lamp head, which increases the complexity of electrically coupling the power supply with the lamp head. In addition, any one of the multiple cables may be unintentionally disconnected from either the power supply or lamp head. The likelihood of such an unintentional disconnection increases with the number of cables. Moreover, the lamp system must perform error checking to verify whether the multiple cables are connected. The error checking may be software and hardware based. In two magnetron systems, the cables coupling the power supply with the lamp head may incorporate conductors for verifying electrical continuity of the cables to the magnetrons.
Thus, there is a need for a microwave-excited ultraviolet lamp system in which the power supply is not coupled with the lamp head by multiple cables.